Baptism in the International Church

Uniqueness of an International Church

An international church is different from the situations in our home countries. In our home countries, individuals may join together with others who share similar viewpoints on most matters of faith and practice. In an international church, we function as a community for all genuine Christians to gather for worship, fellowship, teaching, service and ministry, to grow in our knowledge of and likeness to Christ, and to go out to serve. We focus on the most essential issues of faith and practice, allowing latitude in less essential areas. We need a vigorous faith, adopting rigorous standards of study and interpretation, and yet allowing flexible practice in non-essential matters.

The leadership of an international Christian fellowship must decide, under the Holy Spirit’s direction and in an atmosphere of mutual love and respect for the body Christ, what are the essential issues of faith and practice. Beijing International Christian Fellowship has defined essential issues of faith in our statements of “What We Believe: Our Vision Statement,” “Our Core Values,” and “Our Doctrinal Statement” (all in Like a Family: BICF ZGC Membership, pages 12-15). Individual believers may decide if they can accept and commit to the church’s statements. We recognize that some Christians may not accept every position of BICF ZGC, but our goal remains to be a community which is open to all genuine believers in Jesus Christ.

Water baptism and Communion (the Lord’s Supper) are practiced by almost all Christians. However, our various Christian traditions have different approaches and practices of baptism. This paper will present what we at BICF ZGC consider the biblical meaning and method of baptism.

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